By Lily Papendick
In the second installment of the 2025-2026 Seavey Reading Series, Susquehanna University hosted visiting poet Khalisa Rae on Oct. 21 in Isaac’s Auditorium.
A multi-hyphenated poet, activist, educator, and journalist, Rae completed her MFA at Queens University of Charlotte, where she studied under esteemed authors Claudia Rankine and Ada Limon. Her first chapbook, Real Girls Have Real Problems, was published in 2012 and was later adapted as a sold-out play accompanied by a podcast. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Catapult, LitHub, and Black Femme Collective, among others, and has been a 4-time Best of the Net Nominee and a multi-Pushcart Prize nominee. Her debut book, Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat, was published in 2021 by Red Hen Press, and she’s currently working on a YA novel in verse, titled Unlearning Eden & anthology: Black & Queer in the South.
As per usual, the night began with a lovely welcome from Dr. Catherine Dent, the director of the Writer’s Institute, who read an excerpt from “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou after expressing her gratitude to the various donors, faculty, and students who the success of the Seavey Reading Series rests upon.
Following Dr. Dent’s opening remarks, Bobbi Newsome, a senior creative writing and publishing editing major with minors in philosophy and professional & civic writing, took the stage to introduce Khalisa Rae. As both a fellow writer and black woman, Newsome discussed how Rae’s book, Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat, reveals the “real meaning of black girl magic” and touched her heart in more ways than one, ultimately helping her realize the “real power of [her] voice.”
Before reading her selected pieces, Rae first discussed her journey of becoming an author, saying how she originally wanted to be an actress and filmmaker and thus traveled to Wilmington, NC to pursue these dreams. However, after finding out about the 1898 Race Massacre that occurred in Wilmington and the effects it still carried into present day, Rae realized why the area made her so uncomfortable to live in and ultimately decided the film industry was not for her. This period of revelation led to the eventual creation of Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat.
Rae read from a few newly published pieces to start the night, one of which was “Fairly Middling.” Named after one of her grandmother’s favorite phrases, the poem dealt more closely with Rae’s discovery of her roots that she unknowingly had in the South, shifting her mindset on the South as a foreign place where she didn’t belong. Another poem, “Corn-Fed Bloodthirsty Girls,” focused more on Rae’s youth as the only black girl in her classroom and the injustice and “microaggressions” she faced as a result.
Halfway through her reading, Rae shifted over to read from Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat, which many creative writing and english students have been reading and analyzing in their classes the past few weeks. “Body Apology,” one of Rae’s more popular poems due to its unique structure and serious subject matter, was one of the selected poems read aloud. For context, Rae told the audience about a time when a family invaded her personal space in a public setting and pretended she was invisible, which later served as the inspiration for the poem and Rae feeling as though she needed to ‘apologize’ for taking up space.
After numerous requests from the audience, Rae concluded the night by reading her Gilmore Girls inspired poem, which, instead of emphasizing the warmer aspects of the show, touched on the more negative side, including its lack of diversity and the privileges Lorelei and Rory had due to being white.
When asked about how she blends activism with her art, Rae answered that the two are “inseperable” and as the daughter of a Black Panther, it “must be in [her] DNA” to write and spread awareness about these subjects that have affected both her and her family for generations.
Rae’s reading was a remarkable one, and her visit to Susquehanna demonstrated the endless possibility of intersectionality within literature. The next Seavey Reading Series will feature Akil Kumarasamy on Nov. 18 in Isaac’s Auditorium. Hope to see you there!